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Expanding the Consumer Base for Behavior-Analytic Services: Meeting the Needs of Consumers in the 21st Century

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Abstract

A growing workforce of behavior analysts provides services to individuals with autism and intellectual disabilities as legislative initiatives have spurred a growth of funding options to support these services. Though many opportunities currently exist for serving individuals with autism, the growing demand for these services may wane or, at some point, the growth in service providers will meet that demand. Other consumer groups could benefit from behavior analytic services, but typically have limited access to qualified providers. Individuals with dementia and traumatic brain injury are used as example consumer groups to illustrate the necessary tasks for a behavior analyst to expand their scope of practice to a new population. This paper provides strategies for developing competence and creating employment opportunities with new consumer groups.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Trumpet Behavioral Health, 390 Union Blvd., Suite 300, Lakewood, CO, 80228, USA

    Linda A. LeBlanc

  2. Auburn University, Auburn, USA

    Megan R. Heinicke

  3. Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, USA

    Jonathan C. Baker

Authors
  1. Linda A. LeBlanc
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  2. Megan R. Heinicke
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  3. Jonathan C. Baker
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Linda A. LeBlanc.

Additional information

We thank Jim Carr, Kaneen Geiger, and Nicole Hanney for their comments on earlier versions of this paper.

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LeBlanc, L.A., Heinicke, M.R. & Baker, J.C. Expanding the Consumer Base for Behavior-Analytic Services: Meeting the Needs of Consumers in the 21st Century. Behav Analysis Practice 5, 4–14 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03391813

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